ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – As young people committing crimes continue to plague our communities, Albuquerque police are making a plea to the adults in their lives. “It’s kinda almost like gang-like activity but they are using these social media apps to organize and gather together,” said Commander Kyle Hartsock with the Albuquerque Police Department.
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Underage drinking, buying guns, and carjacking are just some of the crimes APD is seeing glorified by teens on social media. “You can look at almost every kid that’s brought a gun to school in the past year, I bet we can attribute almost all of those gun deals happened on the Telegram app,” said Hartsock. “If your kids on Telegram, you should be having the conversation of why.”
So APD is trying a new approach to get ahold of juvenile crime. “It’s really important that parents and guardians of teenagers and kids understand the big world that’s opened up when a kid or a teenager is on a phone,” said Hartsock.
The department is hosting a free webinar for anyone open to learning about social media trends and risks. Hartsock hopes parents don’t shy away from downloading some of these apps themselves. “They are going to see that there’s a bigger risk in doing it, if they truly believe that no one in their life of any authority is watching what would you do,” said Hartsock.
The department acknowledges the most challenging cases are kids who don’t have a parental figure willing to get involved and since they’re likely skipping school and not involved in sports, they aren’t on the radar of any other adult either.
Hartsock said there is still a way, whether it’s through a neighbor, the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department, or interactions with officers for petty offenses. “Usually these kids are being identified in some system somewhere right? Someone is noticing they haven’t gone to school, someone is noticing them being left alone, there is always some point of potential intervention,” said Hartsock.
The webinar will be hosted next Wednesday, February 26 at 11:30 a.m. at this link.